Can anyone tell me what the word “knickspant” is referring to on a kayak hull? Is it just a hard chine?


Never heard of it.

Google it up
Google will send you here:

Hit ‘translate’ and ‘knickspant’ turns into ‘chine’ - seems correct based on the illustrations.

appears to be a Dutch word for hard-chined.

Knikspant is Dutch

It means a V shape hull

here’s the translation
from the “knikspant” section of Wikipedia article above:


A hard chine hull consists of straight boards at an angle to each other. The hard chine hull form is the simplest because only straight boards are used. These boards are often bent lengthwise. Most homebuilt boats have a hard chine. Advantages of this type of truss, the low production costs and the (usually) relatively flat bottom, making the boat faster planing.

Chine-forms exist in three types:

chine V-bottom,

chine flat bottom

and multi-chine.

Articulated trusses can be used a sword or adhered keel.

Typical examples are the Falcon and Optimist.

[edit] Multi-chine boats are multi-chine boats with a more rounded shape. Typical example is the Waarschip.